The Brewer’s Apprentice: An Insider’s Guide to the Art and Craft of Beer Brewing, Taught by the Masters

Drink up and pay homage to your favorite hobby—craft brewing beer, ciders, and meads—alongside the legends, innovators, and rising stars of the beer world!In The Brewer’s Apprentice, you get incomparable behind-the-scenes access to the craft brewing world, along with tutorials on everything from mastering the perfect pour to designing a world-class IPA. This illustrated handbook escorts you through the steps of the brewing process and offers a unique curriculum that supports and enhances y

2 comments

This review is from: The Brewer’s Apprentice: An Insider’s Guide to the Art and Craft of Beer Brewing, Taught by the Masters (Paperback)

I picked up this book not really knowing what to expect. From the description, it wasn’t totally clear to me if this is a book for homebrewers, people trying to work in the industry, or general beer lovers. In fact, my local library stocks this book under “careers.” This is definitely a great book for homebrewers and beer enthusiasts alike, but for those looking to learn more about industry careers, I’d look elsewhere.

The book alternates between chapters on brewing ingredients, equipment, and techniques with chapters that dive deeper into those subjects from some of the most respected brewers in the industry. It’s like reading the “Tips from the Pros” section of BYO, told from the experts you’d most want to hear from on a subject: Bill Covaleski (Victory) on lagering, Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River) on hops, Sam Calagione (DFH) on brewing with fruit, and, best of all, Jean Van Roy (Cantillon) on lambics/sours. Plus several others. Although the brewing instruction chapters are good (I think a brewer of any level could learn something from them), these “expert” chapters are where this book really shines. Told in an interview style, it feels like you are having a conversation with these experts (in some cases legends) of brewing.

Finally, the photography in the book is top notch. Some of the best I’ve seen in a brewing book. This book would do well on a coffee table as in your brewing library.

This review is from: The Brewer’s Apprentice: An Insider’s Guide to the Art and Craft of Beer Brewing, Taught by the Masters (Paperback)

As someone new to homebrewing, I found this book really interesting and full of useful information. While I enjoyed the information the book contained, the kindle edition was difficult to read. Formatting to the kindle edition, when viewed on an iPad is horrible. There are charts where text from one area runs into text in the next area making it almost impossible to decipher. Photos appear by themselves on one page with the caption alone on the next page. An otherwise beautifully laid out book was not translated to the digital edition. I returned the digital edition and bought the hard copy.